The Hike

Wednesday, I went on a hike with some of the challengers at work. It was a beautiful place to hike. Here I am thinking a nice leasurly hike through a park would be fun. Boy, was I ever wrong there. It was not a leasurly hike, it was a grueling uphill climb for a good 45 minutes. 5 minutes in I was already feeling tired, halfway through the climb my legs burned so bad. I was miliseconds from quitting, turning around and headed right back down. But our fearless team leader, Zen, was there with me. Staying behind the pack to make sure I made it, giving me the gentle encouragements I needed to push through. She had no doubt that I would make it, that she gave me the strength that I needed to do it. As we got to a split in the path, Zen told me that one direction would be a gentle downhill path back to the cars, and the other would be a gentler uphill climb to a curve in the path. She asked me if I wanted to try going further, and there was suddenly a battle in my head. The competitive-never-give-up side screamed "YES! We can make it to the top of that! Lets Go!" while the side of me that felt the pain in my legs, and the shortness in my breath whimpered "Please no, we can't take anymore." As I waged my internal battle, Zen was once again my voice of strength, she said it wasn't that far, just around the bend and she knew I could make it. So we did. I made it. We turned around, and I looked out at the wonderful view of the hilltops, the trees, the greenness of it all. It was breathtaking (not that I had much breath anyway). And in that moment, I realized it didn't matter how much pain I had been in, it was totally worth it. I didn't even feel the pain anymore. As we headed back down to the cars, I felt a sense of acomplishment that made me feel like I could do anything. Surprisingly enough, I'm actually looking forward to the next hike.

So, ever thought to yourself "I can't do that, I'm not in good enough shape." Yeah, so have I. But instead of listening to that voice, I listened to all the other voices saying I could. We can do anything we set our minds to!

My biggest lesson through this adventure, was that it is VERY important to drink plenty of water before strenous physical exercise. Zen made sure to drill that into my head (because I didn't). So to all you out there in cyberland, if you are going to exercise, be sure you are drinking your water throughout the day beforehand, don't try drinking a gallon of water 30 minutes before hand, spread it out. Trust me, it makes a difference.

Week 2 Results

Well, not exactly what I'd call a stellar week. This weekend my son spent at grandma's house. Which left my husband and I all alone. We decided to go out to dinner Saturday night, and Sunday we rented a movie. Between all this, I had my personal training session with Paul on Saturday and followed that with a nice long walk, and my hubby and I took the dogs for a walk on Saturday. That's where my good habits ended. Sunday I didn't journal my food, drink my water, or have a healthy breakfast. I even broke down and had a soda (it was one of those All Natural ones, but it was still a soda). Today I'm paying the price. I'm sluggish, tired and retaining water from too much sodium (I may not have journaled it, but I know all the bad things I ate yesterday).

Unfortunately today was my weigh in day, boy I sure wasn't thinking ahead was I. But I guess it could have been worse, through it all I only saw a 1 lb gain this week. Which I'm pretty sure will be gone by tomorrow once I flush my system (drinking plenty of water today).

All in all, I can't say I feel guilty or regret my weekend. Everyone is bound to slip up, the trick is to pull yourself back up and hop back on track. I can't expect to be eat perfectly for the rest of my life, I'm just glad I recognize what happened and am not letting it derail my efforts. I'm back on track and journaling today. Had a nice breakfast and going for a walk this afternoon with some co-workers.

Random Acts of Kindness

Today is a good day. After not being able to stop smiling yesterday, I decided last night that I like having days where I smile all the time, so I was just going to have nothing but good days. Well, to my pleasant surprise, the wonderful Fabulous Fatties had decided that today all the Healthy Challenge participants would get points for following & saying "Hi" to me today. What a great way to start the morning, a dozen or so messages saying "Hi" telling me how great I was doing, how fabulous and nice I am. My face hurt from all the smiling. Now everyone I work with will benefit from this, since I'll be in such a good mood today. Even my water tastes delicious today!

As part of the healthy challenge the Fabulous Fatties are putting on, we are challenged to perform one random good deed (or as I like to put it a Random Act of Kindness). One of the people I follow in Twitter recommended this site for inspiration http://365daysofgoodness.com/ (You can find her on Twitter as well at http://twitter.com/daysofgoodness). This wonderful lady has decided to perform one random good deed a day for 365 days. Everything from signing for a neighbor's FedEx package, to donating items and time to various charities. I find her story inspirational, and it makes me suddenly think about all those good deeds I haven't done or keep meaning to do. 

So today, in addition to my Journey to a Healthier Me, I'm now on a Journey to a Better Me. I will be looking for and doing my daily good deed with Alli as my guide. Today as my good deed, I am spreading the word of her site to as many people as I can. Remember, what goes around comes around. 

 

Week 1 Results

What an amazing week. Besides a minor case of the sniffles, I feel fantastic! Here are the results:

Pounds lost this week - 5.6, not a bad week.

Total Pounds lost from my high - 10.6 (watch the sliding scale move each week)

Lesson for the week:

Staying hydrated does not mean drinking 8 - 8 oz glasses of water the minute you get up. You can't expect to stay hydrated all day on that, you'll just have to go to the bathroom sooner. You need to keep drinking water all day long. I aim for 4 to 8 oz of water for each hour I'm awake (a little more around workout time or if it's really hot).

Remember, next week my weigh ins will change to Monday's to coincide with the Biggest Loser contest at work I'm taking part in. So you'll get to see my pre-weekend and post-weekend weights. Scary thought. :)

Virtual "Skinny" picture

OK, so it's not exactly a "skinny"picture, but this is what that Virtual Belly Flattener I mentioned a couple blogs back decided I'd look like 50 lbs lighter. We'll see how close they are.

Week one is almost done. My first weigh in is Friday morning. Starting next week though, my weigh ins will change to Monday, to coincide with a Biggest Loser type contest we are doing at work. So today I need to get in my "last minute workout".

I'm discovering that it is important to take a good multi-vitamin in addition to drinking enough water to stay hydrated, especially when losing weight or body fat. Since as the fat breaks down it releases any stored toxins into your body, taking the multi-vitamin helps shore up your defenses & staying hydrated helps flush those toxins out. So now that I've got a little cold, it's time to start doing those things I know I should be.

Until tomorrow, have a healthy day!